Show Me That Smile

The weeks are flying by and I can scarcely believe Isaiah is already a month old. A month? A whole month? I can't remember when time went so quickly. I have a feeling that it's going to be like that a lot and soon I will be saying things like, "I can't believe he's crawling," "I can't believe he's talking," "I can't believe he's on a tricycle..."

I better reverse this whole, "I can't believe..." because it's all going to unfold eventually and I want to be able to soak up and enjoy every minute of it.

Isaiah is sporadically sleeping through the night. Last night he slept from midnight to 7am, which is highly unusual for someone so young, but I've given up worrying so I'm not frazzled by it at all. He's getting chunkier every day (and cuter by the minute) and I have no worries about his weight gain either.

The most heart-melting moment this week happened yesterday. Isaiah and I had a long day together. We were cooped up in the house all day and he was just fussing for a few hours straight, not sleeping, constantly hungry, and bopping his head around like one of those bophead toys where the neck is a spring and the huge head swings in all directions. Finally, I fed him after having a long talk with him. Afterward, I looked down at his face. He was listening intently to my voice and, out of nowhere, gave me his first baby smile.

It wiped every irritated feeling out of my world and all I did was melt into his little face.

He smiled.

A real smile, not a muscle reflex or little side lip curl - it was his entire mouth widening into a big adorable upside down rainbow.

Suddenly, I wasn't worried about anything and all was sunny in the world. There were no earthquakes in Haiti, John Edwards wasn't a moron, it was the day before spring arrived, and a new batch of Rice Krispie Treats were waiting on the kitchen counter.

It was the quickest antidote to the world's problems that I have ever encountered.

The first smile, so gentle, so NEW from my firstborn son was beyond uplifting.

Nothing, not even a new episode of Grey's Anatomy, could hold my attention after that And with delivering his first smile, he promptly fell into a deep 7 hour sleep, as if trying to give me rest when he knows he deprived me of it throughout the day. And this morning, he woke like an angel, barely crying, just cooing and grunting and then feeding with no problems.

Ahh, my little cherub...If only everyone had a newborn to love who gave their first smiles everyday, I firmly believe we would end all wars, disease, and corruption. Yes, new life is that powerful.